Team Secret will be using a substitute at the the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, and it’s a fairly familiar name for the team.
Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat will not be competing at the event with his team. Instead, former Team Secret mid Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng will step into the team’s No. 4 spot.
The organization revealed the news on Twitter. No explanation was given for why YapzOr was missing the event. When a fan questioned the news, Team Secret joked in its reply that he is fine, but is “still busy finishing Death Stranding.”
Despite the reveal, Secret still stands as a for its opening matchups at the event against Team Aster and Virtus.pro.
MidOne joined Team Secret in 2016 after the organization went through a heavy shakeup to its roster. Though the shakeups continued from there, MidOne went on to become one of Team Secret’s steadiest presences, with captain Clement “Puppey” Ivanov being the only player that was tenured longer with the team.
Alongside Secret, he won three majors as well as a number of other notable tournaments. He also proved himself to be one of the most versatile players in all of Dota 2, playing more different heroes than any other player at both The International 2018 and 2019.
The Malaysian player split from Secret after three full seasons with the team in November and was replaced by former Team Liquid mid Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen. Though the initial statement from the team indicated that this was because MidOne was looking to take a hiatus from the game, he quickly formed a new team, SEAMonkeys, with former Mineski captain Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross. The team competed in the southeast Asian open qualifiers for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major and finished in eighth place.
Though MidOne is a familiar face for Secret, he steps into a very different version of Secret at ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore. The addition of MATUMBAMAN has seen former carry player MichaĹ‚ “Nisha” Jankowski become the team’s go-to at mid.
The team looked solid in the DreamLeague Leipzig Major’s Europe qualifiers and seemed ready to post a strong live event debut. Though playing with an off-role substitute in MidOne hurts Secret’s chances, the team should still be a force at the tournament.
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